Optical communication systems are widely used for data communication. Optical communication systems may employ optical fibers as the transmission medium to support high data rates in long distance transmissions (e.g. long haul optical systems). Some of the limiting factors for fiber performance at long distances are signal distortions due to fiber impairments, such as chromatic dispersion (CD), polarized mode dispersion (PMD), phase noise, and non-linear effects, etc. Recent advances in high speed analog-to-digital and/or digital-to-analog converters (ADCs and/or DACs) and deep submicron semiconductor processing technologies may enable the realization of very large scale ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) digital signal processors (DSPs). Such ASIC DSPs may comprise several tens or even hundreds of millions of gates, which may be required for performing advanced digital signal processing to compensate for signal distortions at a high data throughput (e.g. more than trillion bits per second for 100 Gigabit Ethernet (100-GE) signal). Such Very Large Scale Integrated (VLSI) circuits may consume high power, despite of using deep submicron processing technologies, such as 32 or 28 nanometers (nm). With the rising demand for “bandwidth anywhere anytime” requiring increasing data rates, such as 400 gigabits (G) or 1 terabit (T), the need for DSP processing power and hardware resources may increase significantly, thus posing a great concern in power consumption. Many efforts have been devoted to reducing the complexity of digital signal processing circuits, in particular, the size of equalizers that may be used for compensation of signal distortions.